Hypnosis Training and Education: Distinctive Features of Training Hypnosis Educators

Much of the field of hypnosis education focuses on what to teach (content) and who to teach (professional identities). A deserving area of focus, and less often addressed, is how to teach basic hypnosis concepts. Worldwide models for teaching hypnosis have mostly included lecture, demonstration, and practice, with little attention paid to the meta-level of educational principles (i.e., what makes an expert trainer). Trainers in hypnosis have been compared to parents: They teach the way they were taught (adults parent the way they were parented). There is a human tendency to repeat what we have experienced. This propensity can be seen while watching the new student use the same induction, in the same way, as his or her first "operator" did when s/he was a subject of his/her first hypnotic experience. Mirroring is a part of all learning, and this article asks what else is needed in faculty education for the trainer to take students beyond mere mimicry to scientifically informed, skilled, and clinically creative uses of hypnosis. This article addresses the unique requirements for teaching hypnosis, reviews a teaching program for clinical hypnosis educators developed by the authors, and looks to future innovations in clinical hypnosis training.